I'm watching a presentation on Zimbra, and I'm noticing that the interface is really busy. I can begin to see why it must be a pain in the ass to set up and maintain (as I've heard). I know I'd hate to have to use it. Where I currently work, as I would imagine is the case at most large businesses, you have a million different services that you can use, a couple of which you have to use, and a couple which you may want to use (the latter group will vary by person or group). A whole lot of things just don't get used by your group, but you keep hearing about it from the company above, it keeps showing up in your web interfaces, and it's just annoying.
A couple posts ago I mentioned an idea of a "rabbithole paradigm" for configurations. What if you did the same thing for your whole GUI?
You start with a big button that says Zimbra. You click on it and get three buttons called Communication, Collaboration, and Settings. You click Communication and you get your email, chat. Click Collaboration you get file sharing, Wiki, etc. Settings gives you GUI settings and Account Settings, each of which gives you more things. Everything is completely straightforward, if cumbersome, as to where you should find them. Certainly no settings or shortcuts that you don't need are in your main interface.
Well, that would make things a lot less confusing, and a pain to get to the services you need, because you have to go all the way down the rabbit hole to get to them. But, as you decide to use them, they would get added to your front page. This includes configuration too, I suppose, as I mentioned in my other post. That way, you always have exactly the services and settings you need and know how to use on your front page and in your menus.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Backing up stuff from websites.
Ok so if I'm going to give in and start being a social media whore, can I at least back up my info? I know my friend Kevin was telling me that "open websites" let you can grab all your info from their DB. I wonder how possible that is for other sites. Could I, say, back up my Twitter contacts? My google reader feeds? My delicious links? (yet to join the latter two). I can concede that these outside sources know what I'm doing and what I'm interested in and who my friends are and where I live, but I don't like depending on them to keep my data.
I should start by setting up IMAP for my Gmail account, sheesh...
I should start by setting up IMAP for my Gmail account, sheesh...
What about a "rabbithole" paradigm for configuration GUIs?
You get very basic settings on the main screen, but there's a button for things a bit more advanced. The screen that follows that button has categories, and each category again has buttons for things slightly more advanced. You go as far down the rabbithole as you feel comfortable. You could have everything be configurable, but it's not a choice between a Fischer Price toy and an Airplane Cockpit.
And, and I think this is a kicker here, you save which buttons you clicked, which screens you edited. So you sortof have your own customized config GUI. It's tailored to each user for whatever they feel comfortable with.
And, and I think this is a kicker here, you save which buttons you clicked, which screens you edited. So you sortof have your own customized config GUI. It's tailored to each user for whatever they feel comfortable with.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
xmsg
Made a handy little script I wanted to share.
I call it xmsg:
Now, you can put xmsg before any program whose console output you want, and it'll show up in a (albeit archaic looking) dialog box. This is useful when you want to know the console output of something just with the Alt-F2 run dialog, and you don't want to bother opening an actual console.
Put it on the PATH so you don't have to put the whole path to the script, you can just type "xmsg" followed by your command into the Alt-F2 menu (or a console if you want). Quick example:
Will give you a nice popup telling you how much space you have on each mount. Now wasn't that more convenient than having to open a console?
How it works (in case a little education can come of this).
"$@" represents all arguments to the script after the name of the script itself. So, this just runs the command you put after xmsg. This pipes to xmessage. xmessage generally makes a dialog with whatever you give it as an argument, but if you say "-file" it will read from a file. If you give "-" as the file, it will read from standard in, which in this case is the output of "$@".
The quotes, btw, on "$@", are because of Bash's annoying quoting rules. Not using them will, I am told, cause arguments with spaces to retokenize.
I call it xmsg:
#!/bin/bash
"$@" | xmessage -file -
Now, you can put xmsg before any program whose console output you want, and it'll show up in a (albeit archaic looking) dialog box. This is useful when you want to know the console output of something just with the Alt-F2 run dialog, and you don't want to bother opening an actual console.
Put it on the PATH so you don't have to put the whole path to the script, you can just type "xmsg" followed by your command into the Alt-F2 menu (or a console if you want). Quick example:
xmsg df -h
Will give you a nice popup telling you how much space you have on each mount. Now wasn't that more convenient than having to open a console?
How it works (in case a little education can come of this).
"$@" represents all arguments to the script after the name of the script itself. So, this just runs the command you put after xmsg. This pipes to xmessage. xmessage generally makes a dialog with whatever you give it as an argument, but if you say "-file" it will read from a file. If you give "-" as the file, it will read from standard in, which in this case is the output of "$@".
The quotes, btw, on "$@", are because of Bash's annoying quoting rules. Not using them will, I am told, cause arguments with spaces to retokenize.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
I'm only announcing my Twitter usage here for now because I got a great quote from my friend Tim, and it won't fit in Twitter's max characters:
"dude, twitter is perfect for you. you send out a message to no one in particular. If anyone wants to listen, then you're talking to them. You do that without the internet."
I guess if you want to follow me:
http://twitter.com/orblivion
I suppose I'll be extra cool and get identi.ca soon.
"dude, twitter is perfect for you. you send out a message to no one in particular. If anyone wants to listen, then you're talking to them. You do that without the internet."
I guess if you want to follow me:
http://twitter.com/orblivion
I suppose I'll be extra cool and get identi.ca soon.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Where is Google Apps free edition?
This answered my question:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/11/free-google-apps-more-difficult-to-find.html
This gave me the same feeling as discovering a secret area in a video game.
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/11/free-google-apps-more-difficult-to-find.html
This gave me the same feeling as discovering a secret area in a video game.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Joe sent me
I moved into a new place recently. I need Internet access, and I wanted to avoid giving any more money to AT&T, and I've heard that Comcast isn't much better. I looked into Copowi first. We couldn't get them to work at our last apartment (though it's at LEAST 50% AT&T's fault, I'm sure more). I'd say they're not too bad, I had a support ticket and a support person that was willing to try different options to get my stuff to work. In the end, they refunded my money and even let me keep my modem. I was thinking it over again; do I want to deal with AT&T for a phone line again, and then wait for Copowi, potentially dealing with the same fiasco? Well this made my decision very simple:
Copowi: Preventing The Depression
Thanks, but I'll get my information "they don't want you to know" from Alex Jones, and I'll get my Internet access from Speakeasy.
I'd heard about Speakeasy from a couple people. They're a smaller ISP like Copowi. One person told me he used it and they had great service. Turns out, I can get the nets from them without even getting a phone line from AT&T. (Copowi doesn't offer that in Chicago yet, though I think it does in other cities). Speakeasy is pretty expensive (I'm too embarrassed to give the actual amount), you can look up the rates yourself. But it's worth it to not have to give money to or otherwise deal with The New AT&T (you can ask me about my experience with them if you'd like, I won't get into it here, this post is too long as it is). Plus, I'm paying for very impressive service, as you will soon see.
The following might seem like trivial reasons to fawn over a company, but think of all the little annoyances that come up when you deal with companies. Particularly telecom. As usual, it's the small things that make a company great.
I went to Speakeasy's site to see if they were available in my area. For some reason the form got confused about my zip code. There was another form below, however, to request someone to contact me to help. I chose email over phone (I'm an engineer, I don't like to talk to people). Plus email is much more out of the way.
So I believe the next day I get an email from the guy. I asked him about my address, and he responded saying that I should be good, though I can't get more than 1.5 Mbps. I fire off a ton of questions at him all day, (it's a tough decision, a year contract, a high price). He responds to all my questions, probably within 15 minutes every time. I ask at one point if I can use a modem I had on hand (from copowi) instead of the modem that comes with the plan.
"There is no real way to tell as it is all based on the chipset used to sync with the dslam at the central office. I can definitely set up the order for you using your own modem, and if worse comes to worst and it doesn't work you can just get our Modem if you like."
See, that strikes me well, because he's a sales guy, but he uses terms like chipset. Good to know that the people selling me stuff know what they're talking about.
Eventually I say that I'm interested. He sends me a form to fill out and fax (I preferred not to send my credit card number over email or cell phone, and I didn't feel like asking about GPG). Today I get my form email giving the details of the account. I was impressed by the fact that this form email said the following:
"You have instructed your sales person to NOT order hardware for this installation. You have reported owning the following bridge/router:
Broadxent 8012-V
If an onsite technician attempts to deliver unordered hardware, simply inform them that you have your own, approved and supported CPE."
So they got my modem model wrong, but think about the fact that they had this option in a form email. I would have expected just a lack of charge for the modem, or they would charge me, but then the support guy would tell me "yeah, ignore that. I put in a note". I'm impressed that "customer has his own modem" is a standardized option for them.
So I log into my account, and find that I can easily change my mailing and shipping address. The order info page has more technical and contact info (for the folks setting up my connection) than I know what to do with. It has a list of 8 "Stages" to getting a working connection (Order Received, Order Placed, Install Confirmation, IP Addresses & Circuit Configured, etc). It shows details for each, including how long I should expect to wait, and of course which one I'm currently on. And, there's a dropdown box where I can choose how often I want email status updates (24, 48, 72, hours, or never) Underneath, there's some sort of "up to the minute report":
"The work log below represents the available documented efforts of Speakeasy and vendor (as indicated by their respective logos) to complete installation of your service.
Speakeasy's service activation team proactively works to install your circuit at the highest level of priority. This real-time installation progress report provides the most current, complete and accurate update on your installation status...."
Wow. Overkill, honestly. Though, if this were for a business I would probably appreciate this more.
To top it all off, while I wait for my DSL connection, they offer a complimentary dialup connection that I can use right now. I don't have a phone line to use it on, but still, that's some really slick Business Fu if you ask me.
One thing I don't really like is that the prices he gave me over email don't seem to be the same scheme that they have posted on their site. I may have just gotten confused on that though. And yes, for sending my credit card info, they should have had an encrypted web form for ordering service. Heck maybe they did, I didn't check, but I sortof wanted to go through this guy, since he was already helping me out and could sort out any issues I had, plus maybe he's getting commission. Finally, for some reason they didn't send my password or account number in my form email, but I emailed the support guy and got those right away.
There's more to come with this, I'm sure. If it's anything spectacular I may post again.
Copowi: Preventing The Depression
Thanks, but I'll get my information "they don't want you to know" from Alex Jones, and I'll get my Internet access from Speakeasy.
I'd heard about Speakeasy from a couple people. They're a smaller ISP like Copowi. One person told me he used it and they had great service. Turns out, I can get the nets from them without even getting a phone line from AT&T. (Copowi doesn't offer that in Chicago yet, though I think it does in other cities). Speakeasy is pretty expensive (I'm too embarrassed to give the actual amount), you can look up the rates yourself. But it's worth it to not have to give money to or otherwise deal with The New AT&T (you can ask me about my experience with them if you'd like, I won't get into it here, this post is too long as it is). Plus, I'm paying for very impressive service, as you will soon see.
The following might seem like trivial reasons to fawn over a company, but think of all the little annoyances that come up when you deal with companies. Particularly telecom. As usual, it's the small things that make a company great.
I went to Speakeasy's site to see if they were available in my area. For some reason the form got confused about my zip code. There was another form below, however, to request someone to contact me to help. I chose email over phone (I'm an engineer, I don't like to talk to people). Plus email is much more out of the way.
So I believe the next day I get an email from the guy. I asked him about my address, and he responded saying that I should be good, though I can't get more than 1.5 Mbps. I fire off a ton of questions at him all day, (it's a tough decision, a year contract, a high price). He responds to all my questions, probably within 15 minutes every time. I ask at one point if I can use a modem I had on hand (from copowi) instead of the modem that comes with the plan.
"There is no real way to tell as it is all based on the chipset used to sync with the dslam at the central office. I can definitely set up the order for you using your own modem, and if worse comes to worst and it doesn't work you can just get our Modem if you like."
See, that strikes me well, because he's a sales guy, but he uses terms like chipset. Good to know that the people selling me stuff know what they're talking about.
Eventually I say that I'm interested. He sends me a form to fill out and fax (I preferred not to send my credit card number over email or cell phone, and I didn't feel like asking about GPG). Today I get my form email giving the details of the account. I was impressed by the fact that this form email said the following:
"You have instructed your sales person to NOT order hardware for this installation. You have reported owning the following bridge/router:
Broadxent 8012-V
If an onsite technician attempts to deliver unordered hardware, simply inform them that you have your own, approved and supported CPE."
So they got my modem model wrong, but think about the fact that they had this option in a form email. I would have expected just a lack of charge for the modem, or they would charge me, but then the support guy would tell me "yeah, ignore that. I put in a note". I'm impressed that "customer has his own modem" is a standardized option for them.
So I log into my account, and find that I can easily change my mailing and shipping address. The order info page has more technical and contact info (for the folks setting up my connection) than I know what to do with. It has a list of 8 "Stages" to getting a working connection (Order Received, Order Placed, Install Confirmation, IP Addresses & Circuit Configured, etc). It shows details for each, including how long I should expect to wait, and of course which one I'm currently on. And, there's a dropdown box where I can choose how often I want email status updates (24, 48, 72, hours, or never) Underneath, there's some sort of "up to the minute report":
"The work log below represents the available documented efforts of Speakeasy and vendor (as indicated by their respective logos) to complete installation of your service.
Speakeasy's service activation team proactively works to install your circuit at the highest level of priority. This real-time installation progress report provides the most current, complete and accurate update on your installation status...."
Wow. Overkill, honestly. Though, if this were for a business I would probably appreciate this more.
To top it all off, while I wait for my DSL connection, they offer a complimentary dialup connection that I can use right now. I don't have a phone line to use it on, but still, that's some really slick Business Fu if you ask me.
One thing I don't really like is that the prices he gave me over email don't seem to be the same scheme that they have posted on their site. I may have just gotten confused on that though. And yes, for sending my credit card info, they should have had an encrypted web form for ordering service. Heck maybe they did, I didn't check, but I sortof wanted to go through this guy, since he was already helping me out and could sort out any issues I had, plus maybe he's getting commission. Finally, for some reason they didn't send my password or account number in my form email, but I emailed the support guy and got those right away.
There's more to come with this, I'm sure. If it's anything spectacular I may post again.
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